


The Tale of Fennigan Brosca

by Galaxa13



Category: Dragon Age: Origins
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-19
Updated: 2017-07-19
Packaged: 2018-12-04 00:36:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 21,883
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11543763
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Galaxa13/pseuds/Galaxa13
Summary: This is basically just me writing the entire plot of the game with one or two extra scenes I headcannoned my Warden doing. This is purely for my own benefit, but if you're interested in reading the DA lore getting explained to you and knowing the choices MY character made then knock yourself out and I hope you enjoy!





	The Tale of Fennigan Brosca

The dwarf empire used to be vast, various cities connected by the Deep Roads, but now only Orzammar remained. Evil entities known as darkspawn had crawled up from deep within the earth and now prowled the Deep Roads. While the other cities had fallen to their slaughter Orzammar had managed to keep them at bay. It was a constant effort, one that the surface world rarely paid attention to. They only cared about the darkspawn when they came to the surface in what was known as a Blight. The darkspawn were always searching for an ancient dragon, an Archdemon, and when they found one it would lead them to invade the surface, killing and tainting everything.

The last Blight had been 400 years ago, so the humans and elves of the surface had plenty time to forget the horrors of the darkspawn. The dwarves never forgot, however. While Blights affected them too, in some degree, even after a Blight the darkspawn were always there. Daily life went on as normal for the dwarves even so. Most even managed to go their whole lives without ever seeing a darkspawn. Fennigan Brosca one one such dwarf.

She was one of the casteless. Orzammar had a strict caste system. From highest to lowest they were Nobles, Warriors, Smiths, Artisans, Miners, Merchants, and Servants. The casteless, however, were below even the servants. It was said that their ancestors committed a terrible crime and were stripped of their caste as punishment. Every dwarf was born into the same caste as their same-gendered parent so the shame of their crime was passed down to their children. Every casteless dwarf was branded with a symbol on their face after their birth, so that all would know exactly what they were. They were barred from most establishments and job opportunities because they were viewed as scum and criminals. This led many of them to beg or turn to a life of crime just to get by, thereby becoming the very thing they were assumed to be.

It was a tough life, one which Fennigan's father could not stand for. He abandoned Fennigan, her mother, and her older sister, for the surface. Any dwarf that went to the surface was made casteless anyway so a number of dwarves living in Dust Town (the Orzammar slums) went for it. His departure caused her mother to start drinking heavily. Sad and angry she was both verbally and physically abusive to Fennigan and her sister, Rica. She told them that they were worthless and that the world was a cruel place, she was only preparing them for that. The two sisters often sought comfort in each other while the family tried to eek out a living.

It wasn't long before Fennigan learned how to pick locks and pockets so they could have enough coin to buy food. It was hard enough without her mother drinking away their meager savings. Her exploits in thievery eventually brought her to Beraht, the leader of the dwarven crime ring known as the Carta. Working for him provided a marginally more steady income than she would have otherwise gotten. Beraht wasn't a casteless dwarf himself (he was of the Merchant caste), but he employed many casteless dwarves within his Carta because they were desperate and easy to control.

Fennigan wasn't the only one to catch his eye, however. He took Rica under his wing too, but for an entirely different venture. While he sent Fennigan out on muscle and smuggling jobs he paid for Rica to have speech and dance lessons, dressed her up pretty, and looked after her health. His plans were for her to seduce a nobleman and if she managed to bare him a son then she could raise up her family in status including "uncle" Beraht. This "noble hunting" while considered scandalous was not illegal, given low fertility rates among dwarves. Fennigan hated the idea of her sister being turned into a fancy whore, but at the same time a small part of her was jealous.

Rica got to be the pretty one. While Fennigan was under constant threat of danger or being caught by the authorities Rica was the one getting pampered and allowed access to things the casteless hardly ever were. She got molded into a proper lady while Fennigan was slicing throats and making deals in back alleys. Still, she loved her older sister and did everything in her power to make sure Beraht never had any cause to hurt her. Rica, too, worked hard to avoid Beraht deciding she wasn't doing good enough and needed to bring in her sister to seduce noblemen. Both sisters never wanted her sister in her place. Fennigan working hard so her sister didn't have to fight and Rica working hard so that her sister wouldn't be forced to sleep with men.

One day Beraht had a job for Fennigan. She was to go to the Proving Grounds, where dwarven tournaments were held, and make sure the dwarf he had bet on was the winner. He gave her a pass that said she was there to clean the latrines (otherwise being casteless she would have never been allowed to step foot in there) and he gave her some poison that would slow the movements of anyone affected to slip to the opponents. Beraht also sent her on this mission with fellow Carta member Liske. Fennigan and Liske had often been paired together for jobs as they worked well together, but Fennigan didn't care for him. She never found his jokes funny and she hated how he looked at and talked about her sister. Still, she knew he was capable and would have her back if they were ever in a pinch.

The Proving was being held in the honor of a visiting Grey Warden. The Wardens were the only known people to be able to defeat an Archdemon. All Blights had only ended because of them. They were greatly respected by all, even the dwarves. Apparently this Grey Warden was looking to recruit more members into the Order so whoever won the Proving was a likely candidate for recruitment.

When Fennigan and Liske made it to the Proving Grounds they found Beraht's pick passed out drunk in his preparation room. Even if they managed to poison his opponents and wake him up he'd be in no condition to win the Proving. Liske noticed that the dwarf's helmet concealed the face and that his armor was Fennigan's size. It was decided that she would pose as him and Liske would use the poison on the others. They had little other choice as going back without completing their mission was a sure way to get punished by Beraht.

So Fennigan entered the Proving. To be honest she was excited to fight. She was confident in her abilities and it would be so delicious to beat down all those Warrior caste snobs who thought they were better than her. Sure, no one would know it was just some gutter trash that was beating them, if everything went according to plan, but it was good enough that _she_ knew. Each round she bested her opponents. Each round the crowd cheered louder and louder. For the first time in her life Fennigan felt truly alive. She almost forgot that the crowd's adoration wasn't really for her, that if they knew who she was they wouldn't be cheering for her like they were, but as she bested each opponent they were witness to her skill and so they cheered even without knowing who she actually was.

Then, at last, she was declared the winner. Even when it was two against one no one was a match against her. As she was soaking in the praise a dwarf stumbled out onto the ring. The dwarf she had been posing as. The whole world fell silent to Fennigan as she stared at the hungover dwarf. Her life was over. This was it. There was no good outcome to this. If she stayed here she would be revealed as casteless and be surely executed. If she ran back home Beraht would punish her for failing to secure his winnings. He could kill her, hurt her sister, or simply throw them both out of his service and back to nothing. She could run and try to hide from Beraht, but he'd surely have the Carta looking for her. He could punish her sister anyway just to lure her out of hiding.

She decided to stand her ground. There was nothing left for her now. She might as well go out in a blaze of glory, sticking it to every single one of those dwarves that ever looked down on her. So she threw off her helmet and proudly revealed her casteless brand as she announced her name to the Proving Master. The guards were called and Fennigan found herself surrounded before being struck in the back of the head and blacking out.

When she woke up she found herself in nothing but rags locked in a cell. She soon discovered that Liske was in a similar situation in a nearby cell. He explained that after she was apprehended he was caught as well, but before the authorities could do anything with them Beraht had bribed the guards into releasing them into his custody. He was surely going to kill them, possibly torturing them before doing so. Liske saw no way to escape, but luckily when Fennigan had been stripped of the Proving armor they had failed to confiscate her lockpicks. She managed to get out of her cell and release Liske as well. Now all they had to do was get out of this Carta den and then. . . hide for the rest of their lives.

After stealing weapons and armor from some crates they managed to fight their way through the building together, cutting down any thugs that got in their way. When they were found by Beraht himself they managed to kill him. It looked like they were actually going to make it out of all this, but when they managed to escape from the Carta they ran into the Proving Master who swore he'd have Fennigan's head for the dishonor she had brought the ancestors. Rica arrived just in time to watch her sister being discovered. She had heard how Fennigan had been arrested and then taken by Beraht so she had come running.

The Warden for whom the Proving had been put on for was with the Proving Master. His name was Duncan and he had been impressed with Fennigan's fighting. He wanted to recruit her. The Proving Master refused to let him do that, saying that she needed to pay for her crime. So Duncan invoked the Right of Conscription. Since Wardens were the only known way of stopping the Blight they were allowed to conscript anyone they saw fit into their ranks, be they nobleman or criminal. Fennigan didn't want to go with him. Becoming a Grey Warden meant she'd have to go to the surface, leave her mother and sister behind. Rica urged her to go, that she had found herself a noble patron and he would look after her. Liske told her that this was a better opportunity than she could have ever hoped for and it was better than being dead.

With a heavy heart Fennigan agreed to go with Duncan. She said goodbye to Rica (there would be no time to say farewell to her mother) and told Liske to stay away from her sister while she was gone. Then she followed Duncan through Orzammar and to the surface with nothing but her stolen weapons and armor (and her lockpicks). She was leaving all she had ever known behind. She wasn't dead, but that didn't make it any easier to swallow.

Duncan sent word to his fellow Wardens that he was returning with Fennigan in tow. He explained to her that they would be travelling to the ruins of Ostagar. There the King of Fereldan was gathering his forces and the Wardens of Fereldan to battle darkspawn that had been seen on the surface. No Archdemons had been spotted yet, but Duncan was sure another Blight was upon them. There had already been two battles previously (both of which the king's forces had won) with this upcoming one said to be the largest group of darkspawn yet. This next battle would be happening in a matter of days, which was why he was in such a hurry to conscript her.

The surface world was such a strange place to Fennigan as she traveled with Duncan. The open sky was frightening, she felt like if she tripped she would simply fly away. The plants and animals were so different from what she was used to. Not to mention that those dwarves who went topside were said to lose their Stone Sense. It was commonly said that dwarves could hear the Stone. Fennigan didn't want to lose touch with the Stone. Her life may not have been easy or fun, but it was all she had ever known. Humans and elves lived such different lives from dwarves. It was a completely different world from the stone and lava of Orzammar.

When they finally made it to the camp in Ostagar Duncan had some business to attend to. He told her to gather the other new recruits, there were two of them, and then find the Warden known as Alistair. Then they could begin the Joining Ritual. Once he had left her alone Fennigan spent a while just staring out into the snow covered valley the ruins looked over. Snow was just one more thing to add to her list of things she had never seen before. Everything felt so surreal. Tomorrow she would be battling darkspawn. Despite living in Orzammar she had never actually seen one before. Usually only the warriors or miners did, as they explored farther away from the city itself. Rica had seen one, though. She had witnessed some men dragging a dead one to be disposed of. It sounded ghastly by her description and Fennigan wasn't looking forward to facing a horde of them tomorrow or for the rest of her life.

Deciding she had done enough self-pitying Fennigan turned away from the scenery and began to explore the camp. The reactions of the others in the camp to her were so different from what she was used to. Some viewed her with curiosity since she seemed to be the only dwarf present, but in general they were all respectful. She wasn't used to being called a lady. Even King Cailan was eager to greet her and talk, even if it wasn't for long. So different from the dwarves of Orzammar who would pretend not to notice her or even literally spit on her.

Fennigan wandered over to the mage encampment and watched them channeling magical energy for a while. She wasn't allowed to get too close to them to avoid interrupting or distracting them. She had never seen magic before. Despite mining all the lyrium needed to cast certain spell dwarves had no magical talent themselves. When she moved on from the mages Fennigan spotted some Chantry Sisters (or maybe they were Mothers, she couldn't tell) giving sermons and blessings. Yet one more thing she was unfamiliar with as the dwarves honored their ancestors and Paragons (those dwarves who had done a great services and were regarded as living ancestors) instead of worshiping the Maker or his bride Andranste.

When one of the women offered to give Fennigan a blessing she decided to go for it. She might not have believed in this human religion, but what was the harm in taking a blessing when offered? Yet when she walked away and continued to weave her way through the various people in the camp Fennigan couldn't help but feel more and more self-conscious. She was an utter outsider here. She wasn't used to magic, the Chantry, or the surroundings. Not to mention how tall everyone was compared to her. It was almost like a weird dream and at any moment she'd wake up in Dust Town, Beraht sending word that he had some new job for her to do.

Thankfully she was able to find the other recruits easily. They seemed nice enough and she found she even had something in common with both of them. One of them had won a tournament to earn his recruitment, like she had won the Proving. The other had been a captured criminal who had been conscripted, like she had been. Both were eager to get on with the Joining, though neither knew what to expect. When she found Alistair he had gotten in some sort of tiff with a mage, but he was easy to talk to when she introduced herself.

When the four of them gathered back up with Duncan he explained that for the Joining to happen they needed to collect some darkspawn blood. They would be going into the Kocari Wilds to gather some with Alistair as their guide. Wardens had the power to sense darkspawn so he would be able to let them know when they were getting close to a group. Duncan also asked that they go to an abandoned Warden outpost and collect some documents that had been left behind. These documents were promises of aid to the Wardens made by the dwarves, Dalish elves, and the Circle of Magi. Fennigan was also on a mission to find a certain flower a man in camp had asked her to find, as it was an ingredient to help a Mabari warhound that had been tainted by darkspawn.

Slaying darkspawn in the Wilds proved an easy enough task. Challenging in its own right certainly, but they managed to collect all the blood they needed. The flower, too, was simple to find. The documents, however, were a different story. When they arrived at the outpost they found the chest the papers should have been in to be empty. A woman appeared, introducing herself as Morrigan, and told them that her mother had taken the documents. One of the recruits called the woman a Witch of the Wilds and warned the group to not trust her.

They followed the woman to her home and met her mother who said some called her Flemmeth. This garnered another fearful reaction, which Fennigan did not share. She knew nothing of these Witches of the Wilds or Flemmeth legends that were apparently so well known and used to spook children. Still, she was cautious. They were given the documents and made the trek back to camp.

Once back Duncan explained that the darkspawn blood would be used to make a drink that each of them would imbibe. They would take in the darkspawn taint for themselves and that is what would give them the power to sense darkspawn. The recruit who had been scared of the “witches” was eager to become a Warden and defeat the darkspawn while the other, the one who had won the tournament, was nervous at the idea of drinking darkspawn blood. The eager one took his drink and soon collapsed dead after convulsing. Duncan explained, sadly, that not everyone survived the Joining. Seeing this the other recruit refused to take part, saying he had a wife and baby back home. He even took out his sword, to which Duncan frowned and pulled out his own weapons. He killed the man and said he was sorry.

Fennigan was horrified as Duncan brought the chalice to her. She had just witnessed two men die in front of her. She took the chalice and drank from it, though. She didn't want a stab to the gut like the last guy. Next thing she knew she was waking up on the ground. She had apparently passed out, but she had survived. She was now a Grey Warden.

That night she had a fitful sleep. So much plagued her thoughts and worried her. When she woke up the next morning she had to prepare for battle. The Wardens would stand with King Cailan and his vanguard. All but Fennigan and Alistair. They were ordered to head to a tower and await a signal to light a beacon, letting Teyrn Loghain and his forces know when to charge the flank. Alistair wasn't too happy about being sent away from the fighting, but Fennigan realized how important this job was. If no one lit the signal the king's forces would get overrun by the darkspawn. The mission was easier said than done, however.

As the battle started Alistair and Fennigan rushed to the tower to get into position, but as they approached they were warned that darkspawn had already taken the tower, having come in from underground. The two Wardens were forced to fight their way through the hordes, clearing out the tower. When they finally reached the top they were faced with a terrifying ogre. Never before had Fennigan feared so much for her life as she did when battling the ogre. Together she and Alistair managed to defeat it and light the beacon, Alistair saying they probably missed the signal by now. There was no time for victory, however, as more darkspawn came flooding into the room and Fennigan was quickly downed by an arrow. Her last thoughts were of how she was dying.

Then she woke up somewhere unfamiliar without any of her clothes. Morrigan was there and explained how her mother had rescued Fennigan and Alistair from the tower and treated their wounds here in her hut. Apparently Flemmeth had turned into a giant bird and plucked them up, one in each talon. Morrigan also explained that the battle at Ostagar had been an utter slaughter. Loghain's forces never arrived. King Cailan was dead, as were his forces and all the Grey Wardens. Fennigan and Alistair were the only remaining Wardens in all of Fereldan and there was still a Blight to be stopped.

It was a heavy revelation to wake up to. Morrigan said Alistair had been up for a while and had been inconsolable since she told him what had happened. Fennigan didn't know how to feel. She hadn't known anyone that had died like Alistair did. She was confused as to what happened to Loghain. She and Alistair had lit the beacon, so why hadn't he come? Had the darkspawn surprised them before they could charge in? She got dressed and then went outside to check on Alistair.

He had a far away look in his eyes, but he was happy to see her, happy that she was alright. Fennigan got the impression that if Flemmeth had only saved him or that if she had died from her wounds during the night Alistair would have been unable to function for his grief. She was here so he was able to keep going forward. He wasn't alone. She figured she was only taking things so well herself because her whole life had been so drastically uprooted that she had yet to have time to process anything. Everything kept happening so fast.

Together they made a plan to go see Arl Eamon of Redcliffe. Alistair said he might be able to help them. They would also go see the Dalish, the Circle of Magi and the dwarves to garner their help by using the treaties they had recovered. Before they left, however, Flemmeth told them to take Morrigan with them. No one was more surprised by this suggestion than Morrigan herself. Alistair didn't want to take her because she was a mage outside of the Circle and had been continually callous towards them. Fennigan figured they could use all the help they could get. Alistair decided to defer to her judgement and the three of them made their way to Lothering, a nearby town, so that they might gather supplies and information.

On their way to Lothering the group heard barking and when they turned they found a Mabari running up to catch up to them. It was the very same dog that Fennigan had seen sick with the Blight, the one she had helped save by finding an ingredient for medicine. The dog had apparently survived the battle of Ostagar and had been searching for her. It had been explained to Fennigan that Mabari were very intelligent dogs and would imprint on one master to serve. Since his last master had died and she had help saved its life she had apparently been chosen as its new master. She decided to name the dog Liske. Partly to remind herself of the home she had left behind and partly because she figured Liske smelled like a dog anyway. It was both nostalgic and mocking.

On their journey Fennigan had terrible nightmares. Hordes of darkspawn and a terrifying dragon leading them on. When she woke up Alistair was watching her. He asked her about her dream and she told him. He said that it was no dream, what she had seen was real. Another thing about taking in the taint for themselves and sensing darkspawn was that they could hear the Archdemon, sense its thrall. It was why Duncan had been so sure a Blight was coming. He had wondered when she’d start getting the dreams, so he had been watching her at night, waiting to be there when she’d wake up in a cold sweat and explain things to her. He also told her another secret about the Grey Wardens. While most people would suffer an agonizing death after being tainted the Grey Wardens’ Joining Ritual only delayed that death.

He told her that at most after becoming a Grey Warden you only had thirty years to live. Then the taint would slowly drive you mad and kill you. You would begin to hear the darkspawn more and more, even if you weren’t near any. When that happened most Wardens chose to go down to the Deep Roads and fight the darkspawn until they were killed.

Fennigan felt numb at this news. She only had thirty years left to live? Possibly less? She’d either die in a swarm of darkspawn all alone in the Deep Roads or she’d suffer a slow death and lose her mind. Alistair explained that all this was a secret because if anyone knew hardly anyone would join the Order willingly. Fennigan felt trapped, but there was no use in dwelling on the matter. Things needed to get done and they only one that could do it were Alistair and herself.

Outside of Lothering they were stopped by some highwaymen asking for a “toll”. Fennigan was sick and tired of before kicked around so she threatened the men, telling them that she was a Grey Warden and that she was not to be messed with. Despite her size she was very intimidating. So much so that she even convinced the men to pay _her_ before running off. Lothering itself was full of refugees running away from the darkspawn. Word of King Cailan’s death had spread and not only that but the Wardens were the one’s being blamed. Apparently Loghain had seen Fennigan and Alistair’s signal and simply decided to issue a retreat. He had placed himself as regent in the wake of the king’s death and told everyone that the Wardens had betrayed Cailan, sending him to the slaughter of the darkspawn and Loghain himself had only been able to manage the escape of his own men. A bounty had been placed on any surviving Grey Wardens.

Fennigan couldn’t believe it. Nothing ever seemed to go right for her. Things just kept getting worse and worse. Thankfully most of the people in Lothering didn’t seem to believe the accusations against the Wardens, but they couldn’t do much to help other than not say a word about them being here. Most people was not all people, however. In the tavern the group got attacked by a band of Loghain’s soldiers. They managed to kick their butts, however, and Fennigan once more used her powers of intimidation. She told the leader of this group to run back to Loghain and tell him that his lies would not stand. The man agreed to deliver the message and went running off just as scared as the highwaymen.

During the bar brawl a Chantry lay sister had tried to defend the group and then joined in the fight. Afterwards she introduced herself as Leliana and said she wanted to join them on their journey. When asked why she said that the Maker had sent her a vision to help them. Morrigan thought she was crazy for even believing in the Maker. Alistair thought she was crazy because she thought the Maker had sent her a vision. Fennigan, again, thought they could use any help they could get.

At the edge of Lothering they came across one more odd person. A giant, grey-skinned man in a cage. Fennigan had never seen a qunari before, but the others explained to her that they were a strange people from far away that followed a strict religious social structure known as the Qun. They were infamous for having invaded all the countries of Thedas in a war that lasted hundreds of years. The qunari said he was Sten and had been placed in this cage for murdering a farm family. He was matter-of-fact about everything, but was difficult to get any answers from. Recognizing that he would be a very strong fighter and that with the darkspawn horde approaching he would surely die if left in this cage Fennigan decided to she find a way to let him out so he could help them. He didn’t seem open to the idea until she told him she was going to stop the Blight. He admitted that he had been sent to Fereldan on a mission to learn more about the Blight.

The Chantry Mother was the one who held the key to his cage. Fennigan went back to ask if she’d be willing to release Sten into her custody. She was hesitant to, but when Fennigan revealed herself to be a Grey Warden she figured that if anyone would keep him in check it would be a Warden. So she gave the group the key and when Fennigan returned to Sten’s cage he admitted he was surprised she had managed to do it and pledge his sword to her service. Soon his fighting prowess was put to the test as just outside Lothering a group of farmers attacked them for the bounty on Fennigan and Alistair’s heads. Once more they managed to fight off their aggressors and continue on their way.

The plan was to first head to Redcliffe and speak with Eamon. Then they would go to the Circle and request the help of the mages. Following that they would track down one of the Dalish clans. Finally, they would head down to Orzammar and petition King Endrin for his aid. Fennigan wanted to put off her return home for as long as possible. She wasn’t sure if she could handle going back to the place that had done its very best to ground her to dust. Even if she was a Grey Warden she was unsure how welcoming Orzammar would be to her.

On their travels Fennigan took every opportunity she had to help the needy and be charitable. Doing odd jobs across Fereldan and selling loot she picked off of foes she soon found herself with more money than she had ever dreamed about while working under Beraht. Whenever she got the chance she would give it away and overpay, anything she could do to ease the suffering of the poor. She couldn’t stand letting anyone fall into the same troubles she had if she could do anything about it. Morrigan was continually irritated at Fennigan’s desire to help every poor sod they came across.

One such person was Bodahn the merchant and his son Sandal. They were two dwarves like Fennigan, but more importantly their cart had been attacked by bandits. The group managed to fight them off and save his cargo. Fennigan offered to allow him to travel with them as it would probably be safer. He took her up on the offer and set up his wares whenever the group made camp. He didn’t involve himself with their affairs and simply stayed back at camp until the group picked up to settle down somewhere else. He offered them a discount for saving his life and his son, while simple, was there to enchant their weapons and armor. Bodahn had actually discovered the boy all by himself in the Deep Roads and took him in as his own before coming to the surface. He suspected the boy was lyrium addled and had been abandoned, but he loved him like his own flesh and blood.

Fennigan found herself bonding with her companions on the road. She often disagreed with Morrigan, but she figured it was safer to be respectful of her and always ask her opinions on things, despite Morrigan herself often keeping a distance (even setting up her tent far away from the others whenever they made camp). Alistair proved to be a sarcastically funny man once he finished grieving for the Wardens and Duncan. Fennigan was glad he was with her on this journey. Not only as someone who could tell her what it was that Wardens actually did, but as a friend. Liske proved to be a loyal companion and it proved relaxing to have a dog that was nearly the same size as her whom she could pet. Sten never became less difficult, but Fennigan found him hilarious. She told him as much after one more round of 20 Questions and she swore he almost smiled. Leliana, though, Leliana was something else.

Fennigan had always been attracted to woman. It was one of the reasons Rica had never wanted her in her own position as a noble hunter. Leliana was beautiful, charming, witty, and vicious in a fight. When Fennigan asked her how a woman of the Chantry had ever learned such skills she coyly said that many in the Chantry had other lives before finding the Maker. Fennigan made her attraction to her clear and Leliana seemed surprised, but not put off. She did reveal that she was once a bard in Orlais and would often tell stories and tales whenever Fennigan asked. One night, while in camp, Leliana burst into a beautiful song. Fennigan had been entranced.

When they finally made it to Redcliffe they found that the arl was deathly ill, no one had left the castle or been allowed to enter for some time now, and the entire town was being attacked by zombies each night. The arl’s soldiers had been sent away in search of the Ashes of Andraste as legend told they could cure any ailment so the people had no one to protect them through the ghastly attacks. The arl’s brother planned on using a secret entrance to get into the castle, but only after he had ensured to safety of the citizens through the night.

The group managed to help fight off the undead horde and the next morning the arl’s brother, Teagan, took them to the secret entrance, but before they could go the arl’s wife came running down from the gates of the castle. She urged Teagan to come back with her, that something terrible would happen if she did not return quickly. She was in near hysterics. Teagan went with her after telling the group how to get through the secret entrance. Then they could meet up in the castle.

Inside they found that many of the servants had been killed. Those who hadn’t were either hiding or under some sort of trance. Teaga too had been put under a trance to dance like a fool to entertain the arl’s son. It was revealed that he was secretly a mage. In the hopes of finding a way to cure his father the boy had made a deal with a demon. This deal corrupted the boy. The arl was held in stasis, kept from dying as per the original request, while the boy killed everyone for his amusement. It turned out the arl’s wife had known her son was a mage, but she couldn’t bare the thought of him being taken from her and placed in the Circle, so she had hired a blood mage to secretly tutor him to hide his powers. Little did she know that Loghain had sent the blood mage to poison her husband. When she found this out and her son had become corrupted by a demon she believed the two things were both the mages fault and had him locked up until he agreed to reverse his wicked deeds.

The mage couldn’t, however. The poison had no known cure, medicinally or magically, and he had nothing to do with the demon. He had only done the poisoning because Loghain told him Eamon was a traitor and that if he did this then Loghain wouldn’t force him to join the Circle. He was extremely regretful for what had happened and when Fennigan found him in the castle’s jail she agreed to let him out if he did his best to save the few remaining in the castle. She believed he truly was repentant and if anyone would be able to help fix this mess it would be the only mage in the area familiar with the arl’s son.

The mage indeed knew of a way to save the boy. A spell that would send another mage into the Fade, the realm of dreams and spirits, so that they may confront the demon controlling the boy. Only a mage would be able to do this and he would be too busy channeling the spell to do it himself. So Fenigan volunteered Morrigan for the job. She was a little put upon but agreed to do the deed. The only obstacle left was getting enough power to cast the spell. They would need a large supply of lyrium, but the mage said that since he was a blood mage he could use the life force of another person to power the spell. Unfortunately the amount needed would kill the person.

The arl’s wife volunteered to be sacrificed. She realized this was all partly due to her decision to hide her son’s magical talent and she would do anything to save him now. Without this spell they would be forced to kill her son to stop the demon. Fennigan figured it was the woman’s own choice so she gave the go ahead for the spell. The mage sucked up the woman’s life force, she died, and then Morrigan fell unconscious.

As they waited Fennigan started to wonder if she had made the right choice. Alistair had been disgusted by the use of blood magic. A woman was dead and Morrigan’s fate was unknown. Having no experience with magic Fennigan and simply defaulted to the knowledge of the two mages in the room, the blood mage and Morrigan. Should she have been more cautious?

Then Morrigan and the boy woke up. The process had been a success! The demon was gone and the people of Redcliffe no longer had to worry about being attacked by the undead. The boy and his blood mage tutor would be sent to the Circle as soon as things were put back into order. Arl Eamon was still sick, however, and now without the demon keeping him in stasis he would slowly wither away and die. The only hope was to find the Urn of Sacred Ashes.

When the band finally left Redcliffe to rebuild and recovery a woman stopped them on the roads, saying that her caravan was attacked by bandits and to please come quickly to help! After following the woman it was revealed to be a trap as people started shooting arrows at them from the cliffs and bushes. The woman turned out to be a mage and fired spells at them as yet more attackers melted out of the shadows and set upon them with blades.

The group managed to fight them all off until only one remained. The elf lay wounded at Fennigan’s feet and he told them how he was an assassin from Antiva, one of their famous Crows (and their best, if he did say so himself), who had been hired by Loghain to kill them. Fennigan decided to spare his life. When asked why she said that it was clear he had no ill will against her personally, he had only been hired to do a job, one which he failed. Now he could go back as a message that no one would stop her. The elf, introducing himself as Zevran, asked if he might accompany them. After all, he had failed his mission, surely the Antivan Crows would kill him for this. It was much safer to stick around with someone who proved to be a capable fighter. Fennigan agreed to let him join.

Their next stop was a rumor Fennigan had heard on the road. Some merchant was selling a golem control rod. Golems were ancient dwarven weapons. The art of creating them had been lost to time and many had been destroyed over the countless battles fighting darkspawn. If she could find one and use it herself that would be a great asset for them against the coming Blight. They found the merchant and he was willing to give them the control rod free of charge because no one else had been willing to buy it and he needed to make room in his stock. He told them that the golem was in a nearby village.

When they arrived at the village they did indeed find the golem, but there were some problems. The most obvious was that it didn’t move. The control rod did nothing. The other issue was that the golem was very small compared to what golems were supposed to be. They were said to be taller than even Sten, but this one was barely the same height as Alistair. Fennigan began to wonder if this was simply a fake golem and perhaps that was the reason they couldn’t get it to activate. They tried to find someone in the village to question about the golem, but the place seemed utterly empty. Save for some darkspawn the group cleared out.

In one of the buildings, however, they found a group of villagers hiding behind a magical barrier. It turned out they had fled here to hide from the darkspawn. The owner of the place said that his father had been a mage and had set up this barrier. He also explained that his father had been the previous owner of the golem and that it did indeed work. If they helped him find his missing daughter he would give them the codeword need to activate it.

After a short adventure full of puzzles and a Desire Demon the group managed to save the girl and learn the codeword. Finally the golem came to life, but a strange thing happened. It felt no urge to follow any command issued with the control rod. Shale, as it called itself, was just as perplexed by this as the group, but it was willing to follow the group anyhow. After decades of standing in the middle of the village watching everything go by and being pooped on by birds Shale wanted to travel and squash some heads. The golem proved to be highly contemptuous of living creatures of all kinds. Only avoiding killing Fennigan and her increasingly bizarre entourage because they afforded some semblance of amusement. Though Shale refused to call any of them by name, giving them all descriptive titles (such as Morrigan being called “the swamp witch”), the golem only ever called Fennigan “it”.

Fennigan found Shale fascinating, an odd relic of her people now with no one to give it orders. She decided she would not pester Shale with questions as she did Sten. As stern as Sten was he never loudly described his fantasies of squishing the lesser beings. Fennigan would offer her respect to Shale, but otherwise left it alone. Should Shale ever decide to leave she would not stop it.

Now it was time to visit the Circle Tower. With no sign of a cure for Eamon they had to move on with their plan of gathering their own forces to defend against the Blight. They also needed an army if they were going to face against Loghain, which was increasingly becoming a necessity, what with him spreading lies about the Wardens and sending assassins after them. When they got to the tower, however, they found it in utter chaos.

Apparently demons had overrun the Circle. The local templars stationed to protect the mages felt that all hope was lost and that they had already sent word to invoke the Right of Annulment, which would give them permission to kill every living thing within the tower. Fennigan persuaded the Knight Commander to let her into the tower to try and fix the mess herself, she _needed_ those mages. After getting inside the group had to battle blood mages and demons a plenty, slowly learning along the way that one mage had started a rebellion against the templars and convinced a small group of others to turn to blood magic and summon demons. They managed to defeat this radical and save the First Enchanter who was then able to tell the Knight Commander that the tower was safe. Fennigan finally had the first part of her army.

Before she left one of the mages who had helped her clear out the demons asked to join her. Wynne was an older woman, but she proved to be able to handle herself in a fight. Not only that, but she had been one of the mages at the battle of Ostagar so Fennigan agreed to let her come with them. In time Fennigan grew quite close with Wynne, even viewing her as a mother figure (much kinder than her actual mother). Wynne was always there to offer advice when Fennigan began to doubt if she could really do all this. When Wynne explained that she had actually died during the demon attack on the tower and the only reason she was still walking around now was because a spirit of Faith had attached itself to her and kept her alive with its power Fennigan became very worried for her. Not because she was connected to a spirit, but because Wynne was living on borrowed time now. The more she used the spirit’s power the closer to death she became. Fennigan didn’t want Wynne to die after growing so close to her.

In fact, it was only now on their journey that Fennigan allowed herself a moment of rest and actually think about everything she had been through and everything she must do. It was comforting to have Wynne with them now, but it was still a lot to handle. One night she was on guard duty with Leianna and the former bard mentioned that the stars look beautiful that night. Fennigan was pulled out her contemplation and stared up at the sky. Even after all her time on the surface now she still wasn’t really used to seeing the stars. She told Leliana as much and the former bard offered to tell her the stories of the constellations.

As she did so it was then that Fennigan knew she was in love with Leliana. She was so beautiful and she had so many interesting stories to share. She loved listening to her talk and after listening to her for a bit she finally admitted to her all the anxiety she had been hiding within herself. How everything she thought she had known had changed so much. Leliana listened to her and offered comfort. The two of them spent the rest of their watch star gazing.

When they found the Dalish elves they discovered that this particular clan was having a werewolf problem. After a lot of running around Fennigan exposed that the clan’s Keeper was the one who started the werewolf curse centuries ago and convinced him to finally end it, ending his own life as well. Having fixed the issue she was promised the arms of the rest of the clan and that they would find the other clans to spread word that the Wardens required their help.

When they made camp after leaving the Dalish Leliana walked up to Fennigan. She looked angry and when Fennigan asked her what was wrong Leliana accused her of being in love with Alistair. Fennigan was shocked. She tried to tell Leliana that there was nothing going on between them, but Leliana was having none of it. She asked Fennigan if she had meant anything to her at all, to which Fennigan was quick to assure her that she loved her, and only her! Leliana told her that she needed to break things off with Alistair then.

Fennigan took a moment to think about what could have caused all this. Alistair was a good friend, sure, but she had never once been attracted to him. Then she remembered an incident that had happened a while back on their journey. In a conversation with Fennigan he had offhandedly mentioned that she was beautiful. She was struck. No one had ever called her beautiful before. Growing up it had always been Rica that had gotten the attention. Even now that she had started a relationship with Leliana she hadn’t heard it. Leliana had only complemented her hair and personality so far. Which was all fine with Fennigan, she never expected or demanded such things from her. Which why it was so shocking for Alistair to say it as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

She asked him if he really thought she was beautiful, to which he became flustered and then asked what she would think if he did. Truthfully Fennigan didn’t know what to think. She knew she wasn’t interested in him, but it was still a wonder to be thought of as beautiful. So she told him that when he knew if he thought she was beautiful or not she’d tell him what she thought about that. He left embarrassed. She wondered if he might even have feelings for her and that was the source of his embarrassment, but they had previously had a conversation about her closeness with Leliana so she put the thought out of her mind. He knew she was interested in Leliana, he couldn’t possibly have any thought about having anything with her. Even if she wasn’t in a relationship currently he never did admit that he actually thought she was beautiful so he probably was just making a canned comment or joke. It was nothing like a crush. She hadn’t dwelled on it since.

The other day, while they were travelling, Alistair had struck up a conversation with Leliana, asking her advice on how to catch a woman’s eye. Fennigan overheard their conversation and assumed he had spotted a pretty barmaid at their last stop. She was amused at his awkward ramblings as he and Leliana talked. Had Leliana taken that conversation to mean Alistair was interested in Fennigan? Was that why she was so upset?

Panicking slightly at the thought Fennigan ran off to find Alistair. He couldn’t be in love with her, could she? This had to be a huge misunderstanding. Alistair hadn’t been thinking of her when looking for advice. She would talk to him about Leliana’s concerns and he would laugh it off, everything would get smoothed over and they would move on from this whole thing!

Any reassurances Fennigan had hoped to find were dashed as Alistair turned around and presented a rose to her. Her gut went cold. Her arms felt heavy as she took the offered gift. He _did_ have feelings for her. He did and she hadn’t fully realized it, and now she had to crush him. All that panicked energy she had been filled with disappeared as everything around her turned to static.

She quietly asked him what he expected her to do with this rose. He fumbled around awkwardly before telling her how he saw it, a beautiful thing that was growing amidst all this death and hardship and how he thought it was fitting for her. He smiled at her nervously.

Not looking him in the eye Fennigan flatly told him that they weren’t ever going to be a thing. He was immediately disappointed, but he took the rejection gracefully. Fennigan breathed a small sigh of relief as they joined back up with the others. She told Leilana that she had nothing to worry about and the day went on.

For the next few days she felt horrible, but she didn’t let it show. She didn’t want to give Alistair any further embarrassment by being awkward around him. Aside from her guilt over not realizing his feelings sooner things had gone back to normal. That was, until she overheard another conversation.

Alistair had now asked Wynne for wooing advice. Fennigan’s blood ran cold as she heard him being just as awkward as he had been with Leliana. It was made all the worse when Wynne had chuckled and said she had seen how he looked at “her”. She meant _her_. She meant Fennigan. How was she supposed to react to this? She opted to act like she hadn’t overheard the conversation and just hope the whole mess went away.

Knowing that the last things she needed to do were gather the dwarven forces and find a legendary cure for Arl Eamon so that they might have the human forces and turn the nobles against Loghain Fennigan opted to go search for the missing holy ashes that no one knew if they even existed rather than face Orzammar again. After trekking across all of Fereldan, following different clues, fightings off a crazy cult and a dragon, completing an ancient gauntlet that forced her to face her greatest regrets, Fennigan actually did the impossible. She found the Ashes of Andraste.

She brought a pinch of the ashes back to the arl and he miraculously woke up, cured of his poisoning! After filling him on everything that had happened he vowed that he would do everything in his power to stop Loghain. Fennigan just needed the last of her armies and more proof of Loghain’s treachery. All they had now was him leaving the battle of Ostagar (which Loghain had already spun as him saving his own men from the slaughter), him hiring an assassin to kill Fennigan (which given his story of the Wardens leading King Cailan to his death would not have been seen as so horrible), and him trying to poison Eamon himself (which would be his word against a blood mage). They needed something to prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that Loghain wasn’t fit to rule as regent.

Eamon said that once they had that proof he would call a Landsmeet with the other nobles and they could oust Loghain from his rulership. In his place Eamon would put Alistair on the throne. Fennigan was blown away by this idea and when asked why Alistair admitted that King Maric, King Cailan’s father, had been his father as well. His mother had been a simple maid and to avoid anyone worrying about him trying to take the throne from his half-brother he was sent into templar training. Then before he made his vows Duncan conscripted him into the Wardens. Alistair never thought his royal bastardry would come up or be an issue. He had no interest in being king. Fennigan assured him that they would find some solution for the throne (and that he was a terrible pick for king anyway).

Fennigan wanted to do some investigation and dig up some dirt on Loghain, but Alistair reminded her that they still needed to go to Orzammar. Fennigan whined and dragged her feet, but she eventually acquiesced. She knew they needed the dwarven forces. She just really, really didn’t want to go back there. At the same time, though, she did miss her sister and wanted to know what became of her and her mother. Had Rica’s noble patron taken care of them? What of Liske? Had he managed to get away from the Carta? She may not have cared for him much, but each time she looked at her dog which she named after him she couldn’t help but feel a twinge in her heart.

When the group made it to the gates of Orzammar they were told they wouldn’t be allowed in. Apparently in the time since Fennigan left King Endrin had died and the Assembly had yet to elect a new king. It was a vicious struggle against the king’s youngest and only surviving child, Bhelen, and Lord Harrowmont who claimed the king had named him the heir on his deathbed.

Fennigan managed to get herself and her group into Orzammar by throwing around her Grey Warden credentials. Orzammar was just as she had remembered it and yet nothing nothing like it at all. It was all the same rock and people, but she was a Warden now and the city was in political upheaval. It was funny, though, when she began talking to nobles and they didn’t notice her casteless brand because of her fancy armor and equipment. How embarrassed many of them got when she explained she grew up in Orzammar, not the surface, how some of them ran off after realising she was a dirty casteless. She wondered how much shame they felt having treated her _like an equal_.

As she wandered around the streets her sister came running up to her. Rica had heard about a Warden dwarf coming to Orzammar and she had hoped it had been Fennigan. The two sisters were ecstatic to see each other again and Rica had wonderful news to share. Her noble patron, which she had mentioned before Fennigan was forced to leave, was none other than Prince Bhelen himself! Not only that but in the time of Fennigan’s absence she had gotten pregnant and had a son! Rica and her mother had been moved into the palace with Rica named a royal concubine! Her son would have the same rights to the throne as any son born between Bhelen and his wife! More so, since he was the first son born of Bhelen!

That was, if Bhelen was voted as king. Rica brought Fennigan to another dwarf working for Bhelen and urged her to help settle this political dispute. Fennigan was determined to do everything in her power to help secure her sister’s future. What did she care who ruled Orzammar? She didn’t live here anymore! The whole city could crumble for all she cared, but her sister. . . Her sister deserved to have a good life. With Bhelen as king that would be assured. So Fennigan agreed to help discredit Lord Harrowmont. She was given some documents that showed Harrowmont had promised the same land to two different people, thus buying their votes for his fight to be king. All she had to do was show these documents to the two nobles and they would surely pull their votes.

As they made their way to the first of the nobles Fennigan overheard another conversation between Alistair and Wynne. Wynne pointed out that he had been staring at Fennigan’s hips. He tried to deny it, but Wynne persisted. He relented and admitted that their swaying had been almost hypnotic. Once again Fennigan bit her tongue and prayed to the ancestors that this would all go away. She told him she wasn’t interested. He would find some other woman eventually. He couldn’t turn off his feelings just because he knew she wouldn't have him. Everything was fine. He would get over it eventually.

When she found the first noble on her list she showed the documents to him and he was understandably angry. When she tried to find the other she was told the dwarf had gone on an expedition to the Deep Roads. She needed to follow after him if she wanted to show him the documents. As she had travelled through Orzammar, however, Fennigan had heard some interesting rumors.

It was being said that Prince Bhelen had poisoned his father and was also behind the deaths of his two older siblings. Feeling it might be best if she had these documents looked at a little more closely she went to the Shaperate, the dwarf who was in charge of recording the Memories for all of Orzammar. He would have records every every business deal. When she showed him the documents he revealed that they were forgeries. The same land could not be sold twice and his records showed that there had been no double crossing on Harrowmont’s part.

Angry at being used to further Bhelen’s scheming ways Fennigan went back to the dwarf who had sent her on this mission. He admitted that it was all falsified evidence, but what did it matter? All that matter was that the two nobles _believed_ they were tricked. He said Bhelen had big plans for the future of Orzammar and Harrowmont would keep them stuck in the past. Fennigan hated the thought of being a pawn in some underhanded tactics, but she decided to continue working for Bhelen, for the sake of her sister. After all, she still didn’t care who actually ruled Orzammar. She just needed a king picked so that she could have her army.

Still, she decided to put off searching for the nobleman in the Deep Roads for just a little while longer, to help her cool off after her discovery. During this time she came across Brother Burkel, a dwarf who was trying to set up a Chantry in Orzammar. Fennigan had never met a dwarf who followed the Chant of Light before so she decided to stop and hear what he had to say. His requests to start a Chantry in the city had been denied multiple times, but he was hoping that she would be able to convince the Shaperate to reconsider.

Fennigan was intrigued. After spending so much time on the surface she had heard a lot about the Maker and his prophet Andraste. Not to mention how her girlfriend had devoted her life to to the Chantry and the Maker. For a while now she had been thinking what it would be like if she was a follower too, but she kept worrying that it wouldn’t be right for a dwarf to believe. With Brother Burkel, however, there was now at least one dwarf who believed and was encouraging others to as well. Perhaps it wasn’t so unlikely for a dwarf to be part of this religion. She agreed to help him and even got the Shaperate to relent and allow him to give his sermons.

With a job well done she finally went into the Deep Roads and found the other nobleman. She showed him the fake documents and he promised he’d switch his vote to Bhelen. When she got back to Orzammar Bhelen told her she was doing good work and he was so glad to have a sister as capable as her. Fennigan decided not to mention how she wasn’t his sister as he wasn’t actually married to Rica, but she bit her tongue.

Bhelen had another job for her to do now. He wanted her to take out Jarvia. She was Beraht’s girlfriend and had taken over the Carta after Fennigan had killed him. If she could eliminate Jarvia the Carta would be further destabilized and Bhelen would win favor for getting the crime ring squashed. Fennigan began to grin maliciously, she would be happy to kill Jarvia. That woman had been there when she and Liske had been locked up in the basement of a Carta den. She had mocked Fennigan and teased her about her upcoming death by Beraht. Fennigan couldn’t wait to get back at her and show her just how wrong she had been.

Before that, though, Fennigan wanted to visit her mother and sister in the palace. She couldn’t take everyone with her inside the palace, so she decided on Alistair, Wynne, and Leliana. Alistair was her first real friend, Wynne had been a surrogate mother figure, and Leliana and her had started a relationship together (the other members of their group would often ask Fennigan about it and she was always proud to tell them that she and Leliana were indeed an item). These were the people she trusted the most and she wanted them to meet her family.

Rica was so happy to have her sister visit and told her all about how wonderful Bhelen had been to her. She even showed Fennigan her son and Fennigan was happy to coo over her sleeping nephew. The happy reunion all fell apart when Fennigan went to greet her mother, however. She was just as bitter and as drunk as she had been in Dust Town. Fennigan couldn’t understand it. She was living in a _palace_ now! Her mother said both she and Rica were still worthless brats. Whoop-di-doo, Rica got pregnant! So what if Fennigan was a Warden?

Angry tears bit at Fennigan’s eyes and she snarled at her mother to not ruin Rica’s happy life and good fortune. To which her mother blew up and complained about how all anyone ever talked was Rica! _Precious_ Rica! She told Fennigan to get out of her sight, that looking at her made her sick. So Fennigan stormed out of the palace, breaking down into angry sobs when they were far enough away.

She was ashamed that her friends had seen that, had heard the vile things her mother had said to her. Would they think less of her, having come from that? Would they believe the things her mother had said about her? How could she ever hope to have their love and respect if she couldn’t get it from even her own mother after everything she had accomplished?

Her fears were unfounded, however. Wynne gave her a big hug, Leliana had some very unkind things to say about her mother, and Alistair said that she had turned out great even f her mother couldn’t see it. Fennigan continued to cry. She was still hurt, but there was happiness now too. She had friends who still cared about her. When she finally dried her tears she got ready to go into Dist Town and track down Jarvia.

It was a strange feeling when she stepped back into the ghetto. She saw many of the same sad faces she had grown up with. She gave money to each beggar she saw, knowing exactly the struggles they continued to face. Then she saw Liske. She couldn’t help but smile seeing his stupid face. He welcomed her back to Dust Town, but warned her that Jarvia had gotten wind that she was out to get her. He also told her that after Rica and her mother had been moved to the palace the Carta had overtaken their old home. Fennigan was furious that her childhood home had been turned into just another Carta hideout. It was a hovel, but it had been _her_ hovel. Liske told her that a secret entrance had been installed as part of the Carta’s networks of hidden tunnels. She could use that to sneak in and kill Jarvia. Fennigan thanked him for the tip and started heading that way.

They managed to sneak into the Carta tunnels and had to carve their way through a number of Carta members. Fennigan felt a little bad about that, since many of them were probably in the same situation she used to be in, but they were in her way and she needed to take out Jarvia. Eventually their path lead them through the very same tunnels and building she and Liske had escaped through. Fennigan couldn’t help the chill that ran down her spine as she remembered that day. The day she felt like her life was over. The day her new life began.

It was now that that everything involving Alistair’s feelings for her finally came to a crash. Fennigan had just finished offing two thugs in a hallway when Alistair asked her if they could have a personal conversation. Fennigan grimaced and looked at the dead bodies at their feet and then down the hall to what would surely have even more to deal with. She asked him if this was really the appropriate time for that, to which he said that around her no time ever seemed appropriate and so he was just going to do it now.

He seemed annoyed and said that she and Leliana appeared to be so close. Fennigan had reached the end of her rope. She had been dealing with a lot of personal issues since coming back to Orzammar and they were in the middle of a mission to assassinate the woman who had locked her up right before Duncan had recruited her. She didn’t have enough energy or time to feel guilty or awkward. She sternly told him that she and Leliana were in love. She was angry that he had seemingly forgotten that they had already discussed her relationship with her a long time ago and that she had already told him that he and her would never be a thing.

Unlike the last time he did not take the rejection gracefully. He was hurt, and a little angry too, but Fennigan didn’t spare him another moment as she tore off down the hall to confront the next wave of Carta. This moment probably helped to fuel her anger when she finally confronted Jarvia.

She wasn’t alone, however. Liske was with her. Jarvia boasted about how Fennigan had fallen right into her trap. Liske worked for _her_ and he had brought her to them. Fennigan’s blood began to boil and she saw red. How _dare_ Liske betray her like this! No Paragon would have been able to stop her rampage. She didn’t waste time asking questions, she simply slaughtered Liske and Jarvia both without mercy. It was a dreadful sight as she screamed in rage and stabbed Liske over and over. Even as the last dwarf fell her anger did not quell. She simply seethed in silence as the party followed her out of the den. She marched all the way to the palace and told Bhelen that the deed was done.

Bhelen told her that the Assembly was still in a standstill and the only way to break the tie was if a Paragon were to cast their vote. A Paragon’s word could overturn the whole Assembly, but the only living Paragon currently was Branka, who had disappeared into the Deep Roads with her entire house years ago. Many believed she was dead by now, but without her this feud would just keep going on.

So the only thing Fennigan could do was go back into the Deep Roads and search for the missing Paragon and the rest of her expedition. As she was getting ready for this venture Branka’s husband, Oghren demanded to come with her. He had been left behind when she took their entire house into the Deep Roads. He was once one of the best warriors, but now he was a laughingstock that spent his days drinking in the tavern. Fennigan figured he had more reason than anyone to find Branka so she agreed to let him come along.

So they delved further into the Deep Roads, fighting off darkspawn and passing through forgotten dwarven cities. As they pressed onwards they found signs of Branka’s expedition. Journals detailing that Branka had found clues to the location of the Anvil of the Void, the key to creating golems designed by Paragon Caridin. They also learned of the terrible fate that fell Branka and her team.

Branka had become obsessed with finding the Anvil. She was willing to sacrifice everything to get it, including forcing the members of her house to eat darkspawn flesh. Those that didn’t die from the taint or were killed by the darkspawn themselves became mutated. The men turned into Genlocks and the women into horrifying monstrosities known as Brood Mothers. Fennigan and her team killed off what they could and finally found Branka. The Paragon tried to get Fennigan to help her find the Anvil, but Fennigan was disgusted by her and what she had done so she refused to help.

Branka in turn refused to return back to Orzammar to settle the dispute over the throne. She ran off deeper into the ruins to continue her search. Fennigan pursued her and in her chase she came across a room full of golems. The largest of these golems approached her and said that it was Paragon Caridin. It then told the story of how he had created the Anvil and how every single golem made used to be a dwarf. First he only took volunteers that sacrificed themselves in order to battle the darkspawn, but soon the king of his time became greedy and ordered people forced into becoming golems. Even Caridin himself when he tried to stop the king.

While Caridin’s apprentices were able to use the Anvil and forged him into a golem they were unable to construct a control rod for him, so he remained free. Without Caridin’s knowledge of how to create, and more importantly _control_ , the golems and with the darkspawn continuing to slaughter their cities the dwarves eventually forgot what was required to make the golems. Caridin was unable to destroy the Anvil as he was now. He asked for Fennigan to destroy it for him, so that he might finally be able to kill himself and be at peace.

It was then Branka arrived and told Fennigan not to destroy the Anvil. Fennigan had already made her decision, though. She wouldn’t let the Anvil exist so that its horrors could be inflicted on anyone else. Securing Caridin’s promise that he would give his own vote as a Paragon to the next ruler of Orzammar Fennigan turned to battle with Branka.

When Branka was slain Fennigan offered her condolences to Oghren. He realized she had gone off the deep end and this was for the best. Then Caridin used the Anvil to construct a crown. He told Fennigan to give the crown to whoever she wished to be king and then Fennigan smashed the Anvil. Afterwards Caridin threw himself off a cliff and into the lava below.

Back in Orzammar Fennigan presented the crown to the Assembly and told them what she had seen. It was concluded that the crown was indeed made by a Paragon and that the Assembly would honor the choice she made. To no one’s surprise she presented the crown to Bhelen. As soon as he was named king Bhelen ordered for Harrowmont to be executed. It left a sour taste in Fennigan’s mouth, but she thought once again how she didn’t actually care what happened to Orzammar now. Rica would continue living in the palace and her son would be heir to the throne. That was all that mattered to her. When Bhelen asked if there was anything he could do to repay Fennigan for what she had done, however, she smiled and told him to make a big statue of her, like they had of all the Paragons at the gates of Orzammar. He said he would see what he could do and then Fennigan left the Assembly Hall.

She needed to return to the surface and back to the battle against Loghain. She visited her sister one last time and they shared an emotional moment together. Rica telling her that her son would grow up hearing heroic stories about his aunt. Finally Fennigan could leave Orzammar. She was so tired of the place.

The last time she left Orzammar and walked on the surface she had been filled with dread and anxiety. This time she felt free. She had a new companion with her too. Oghren decided to tag along with them since no one respected him in Orzammar anymore and he was no longer waiting for Branka’s return. He might not have been Fennigan’s ideal companion, but it was nice to finally have a fellow dwarf to talk to. One who experienced the same fear she felt upon seeing the sky, one who she could talk to about dwarven society without having to stop and explain everything.

Shale came to her when they had made camp, having heard about what had been discovered when they went after Branka. Shale had few memories of what life was like before becoming frozen in the middle of the village. A memory here and there about hating its previous master, the mage, but little else. Hearing how golems used to be living dwarves Shale wanted to learn more about who it used to be. Fennigan agreed to help and together they eventually discovered a shrine that had been built in honor of the first dwarves to volunteer to become golems. A list of names was there. Shale found one. Shayle Cadash. That was who Shale used to be, a dwarven woman who was one of the first to become a golem. Fennigan asked if she should refer to Shale with female pronouns from now on, but Shale said they were a golem now and thus had no gender. They didn’t like thinking about how they used to be a squishy flesh creature, but was thankful to Fennigan for letting them find the truth of their past.

Having done this for Shale Fennigan figured she should help out the rest of her party members too. Sten had eventually admitted through all her poking and prodding that the reason he had killed an entire family that led him to being locked up in Lothering was because when he had been sent to Thedas to learn about the Blight he had not come alone. His party got attacked by darkspawn, however, and he was left for dead. The farm family had found him and treated his wounds. When he came to he learned that all his men were dead and his sword was missing. Back home his sword was his soul, made just for him. Without his soul he could never return home. He freaked out and slaughtered the whole family. Realizing the dishonor he had just done he sat and waited to be apprehended.

Fenigan felt that he was full of regret for what he had done, even if he never said the words. She also realized that he must have suffered from some sort of panic attack after being attacked by the darkspawn and then find out out an item so important to him had been lost. She vowed she would help him find his sword.

She followed a trail of leads for the missing sword until it finally brought her to a dwarf she had met in Redcliffe. She brought Sten to the dwarf’s home and asked about the sword. When he asked why she wanted to know about it Sten spoke up from behind her that it was _his_. Seeing this giant of a man staring him down the dwarf told them they could take the sword. Fennigan fetched it from a chest and then presented it to Sten. He admitted that he never thought she’d follow through on her promise to find his sword for him, but he was deeply thankful to her.

At one point on their journey Fennigan had asked Wynne if she had ever done anything she regretted. Wynne admitted that in her youth she had been a little full of herself and as such she was a hard task master when she was given an apprentice at the Circle. It was an elven boy and she pushed him too hard. He hated her and one day he ran away. The templars were sent after him and he was never returned. She figured they had killed him. From then on she vowed to show more compassion to her students.

Fennigan asked if her it was possible he had escaped capture and Wynne conceded that it was possible, if very unlikely. She said that if he _had_ managed to truly escape that maybe he had run to the Dalish. He always talked about wanting to find them. Knowing this Fennigan decided to return to the Dalish clan they had helped earlier and brought Wynne with her.

She asked if anyone knew of a mage by the name Wynne gave her. Wynne couldn’t believe Fennigan was actually trying to find him for her, she tried to tell her it was unneeded, but the Dalish admitted that they did know of an elven mage by that name. He wasn’t part of any of the clans, but he lived in the forest and was a healer to anyone who sought his aid. So Fennigan went out into the forest to search for him. She found him.

Wynne was so relieved that the boy she had thought dead for so many years was alive and well. He was surprised to see Wynne and told him that he forgave her for how she treated him. The Circle just wasn’t the place for him, so even if she hadn’t been so hard on him he probably would have run away eventually. Wynne thanked Fennigan for doing this for her, so that she could finally let go of this guilt she had been holding onto for so long.

The next person she wanted to help was Alistair. He had mentioned to her at one point that somewhere in the capital he had a sister. His mother had a daughter before becoming pregnant with him. He had never met her, but she was the only real family he had left anymore. Fennigan promised that they would look for her at some point. Now seemed like a perfect time.

When they got to Denerim they found her easily enough, but she proved to be less than welcoming to her half-brother. She told him that he was the reason her mother had died, that the folks at the castle had told her he was dead too and than paid her to keep her mouth shut about the king having a bastard child with a maid. She demanded that if Alistair really cared about her he would give her some money to help feed her five children. Alistair was very flustered and nervously asked Fennigan if it would be alright for him to give away some of their money. She told him it was alright and that it was probably for the best if they left. Once outside Alistair admitted that the meeting had not gone as he had hoped. Fennigan tried to be supporting and told thim that sometimes things just didn’t work out, but he had friends who cared about him as a person, not for his bloodline. He seemed cheered up at that.

Zevran was easy to help as one day while they were travelling the group got attacked by some Antivan Crows that had come to take Zevran back. Zevran refused to go and a battle ensued. When each of the assassins were dead Zevran thanked Fennigan for saving his life and giving him a chance to live outside of the Crows.

Next was Morrigan. She and Fennigan had an interesting relationship. They continued to have differing views on how to handle things, but one night in camp Morrigan asked her if they were friends. Fennigan was surprised by the question. She personally didn’t think they were friends, but she told Morrigan that she hoped they were, simply because she wanted to remain on Morrigan’s good side as much as possible. Morrigan seemed to take this to heart and later admitted that she viewed Fennigan like a sister. This was extremely touching to Fennigan and from that point on her felt much warmer to the woman.

Morrigan told her that a long time ago a grimoire of her mother’s had been stolen. By this point it had surely been placed in the Circle Tower and she wished to look for it. Since Flemmeth had been so upset by its lose she was sure it contained some power magic that Morrigan said could be helpful. Fennigan agreed that they would travel back to the Tower and look for this book. They did so and while the residents were still busy cleaning up and repairing from the horrors that had occurred there Fennigan found the tome matching Morrigan’s description in the First Enchanter’s office. She brought the book to Morrigan who began to study it diligently.

Finally Morrigan came to her with her discoveries. The book, as it turned out, was not a list of powerful spells. It was instead of written account of how Flemeth had lived so long, the stories of Flemmeth were centuries old. There had been many Witches of the Wilds, but Morrigan had never met any of these sisters. The book said that when Flemmeth began to grow old and frail she would take in a young girl and raise her as her own. Once she had taught her enough magic she would then steal her body and live on. Morrigan was horrified by this idea and refused to be used in such a way. She implored Fennigan to go back to the Kocari Wilds and kill her mother before she came to retrieve Morrigan and take her body. She also asked that she find her mother’s _real_ grimoire which would surely be kept within the hut.

Fennigan was unsure about all this. If Flemmeth truly was a powerful being with many legends told in her name she didn’t think it would be that easy to kill her. She agreed anyway, if only to ease Morrigan’s mind. Morrigan told her that she could not come with her, for fear that Flemmeth would steal her body right then and there, so she sent Fennigan off and did not follow.

When Fennigan made it to Flemmeth’s little hut nestled in the wilds Flemmeth laughed. She asked what it was her daughter had done to get Fennigan to dance to her tune. Fennigan admitted that she really didn’t know who to trust. This could have all just been a plan by Morrigan to steal her mother’s power. She told Flemmeth that she didn’t know what to think. Flemmeth told her that not knowing proved just how wise she was. Then she asked what it was Fennigan planned to do now. The dwarf asked if she’d come after Morrigan and Flemmeth told her that Morrigan had important work to do, even if she thought she was escaping from her. She would not interfere in that simply to take her daughter back. She would leave Morrigan alone and as far as she knew she would be as good as dead. She would also allow Fennigan to take her grimoire back to Morrigan without a fuss. Fennigan decided to leave Flemmeth alone. She did not want to make an enemy of the mysterious woman and if Morrigan had no reason to fear her then she figured the matter was settled. She went back and told Morrigan that her mother had been dealt with and gave her the book, much to the relief of Morrigan. She said she knew it must have been very hard, but she was deeply thankful that anyone would be willing to do such a thing for her. Fennigan was her first and only friend in this world.

Oghren was the last one to request Fennigan’s help. Apparently after Branka had abandoned him her had a bit of a fling with another woman in Orzammar. Sadly, things didn’t really work out between them and eventually she moved to the surface. Now that he was a surface dwarf too he was thinking about looking her up and seeing if he could spark things up again between them. He was actually single this time too. Fennigan figured it wouldn’t hurt to for Oghren to at least say hello.

They found the dwarf working in a tavern. When Fennigan asked her about Oghren she was met with a very negative response. She returned to Oghren and told him as much, but he decied he just needed to talk to her himself. So he walked up to her and the woman made her disgust clear. They talked for awhile, but when Oghren said he should get going she was disappointed. She invited him to come by again sometime so she could call him more names. He agreed and walked back to Fennigan with a big smile. Fennigan was gobsmacked. Well. . . If that’s how they liked to play things then she wasn’t going to tell them how to have a relationship. Oghren was happy so she considered it a win.

Now it was time to head back to Denerim. Surely they would find some evidence against Loghain in the capital. With some looking around they heard there was some unrest in the elven alienage. Deciding to take a look Fennigan and company entered the ghetto where the elves lived and there they found that a plague had been spreading and Tevinter mages were quarantining the populace as well as offering “cures”. No one who wasn’t deemed sick didn’t get to go inside the clinic, and plenty of elves that seemed fine were taken in for "healing". No one ever saw them again. Some elves began to fear that they were being kidnapped.

After some investigating Fennigan found that the source of the plague was a tainted dog carcass that had been left in the streets. Fresh blood was nearby as well, just outside the orphanage. After going inside with a blind templar Fennigan discovered that all the inhabitants had been slaughtered and the place was now haunted. After clearing the place out (unfortunately the templar dying along the way) she then turned her attention to the clinic. She paid off a guard to look the other way as she snuck in the back. She found the place empty of anyone, but full of cages large enough to hold people.

In a nearby apartment building she found terrified residents that warned her that people came in the night to take them away. Exploring the building she found slavers and after following their trail she came to a warehouse full of more slavers and some of the missing elves locked up in cages. The leader of the slavers offered to give a testimony of how Loghain knew full well what was going on here, but allowed it to happen. He would give this testimony in exchange for their leaving with the elves. Fennigan refused the deal and killed them all. She had already picked up enough paper evidence on her way here to prove Loghain allowed Tevinters to capture Fereldan citizen and sell them into slavery. She released the captured elves and then ventured back to Redcliffe to let Arl Eamon know she had everything she needed for the Landsmeet.

When she got there, however, Queen Anora’s handmaiden was already there seeking help. Anora was King Cailan’s widow and Teyrn Loghain’s daughter. She had wanted to believe her father had done what he thought was best at Ostagar, but as things grew more and more tense in Fereldan she began to have doubts. Eventually her questions led her father to have her locked up by one of his supporters, Arl Howe. She had sent her handmaiden out to ask Fennigan to rescue her.

Fennigan agreed to help and she soon came to know that Howe had slaughter an entire noble family just before the battle of Ostagar. Not only that but he captured people and sent them to his torture chambers _and_ he knew about the elves being sold into slavery. Fennigan held little pity for the man when she was finally forced into a fight against him and killed him.

When she finally found Anora the queen agreed to speak out against her father at the Landsmeet. Right before they were about to escape Arl Howe’s castle, however, Loghain’s right-hand woman found them. She accused Fennigan was breaking and entering as well as the murder of Howe’s men. Fennigan tried to defend herself, saying she was here to rescue the queen and pointed out Anora standing next to her.

It was then Anora accused Fennigan of trying to kidnap her. Fennigan’s jaw dropped, but there was little time to be shocked at this betrayal as Loghain’s soldiers attacked the group. In the chaos Anora ran off, but Fennigan and Alistair were captured. Fennigan had been knocked out after being captured and when she woke up she found herself looked in a cell without any of her armor and weapons. It was a familiar feeling. Luckily Alistair was with her and luckily the guards had yet again failed to confiscate her lockpicks.

The two of them managed to sneak their way to a storage room and find some of the armor worn by Howe’s men. They were apparently being held in some Fort he manned. Now disguised they were able to move around much more freely. A commander mistook them for new recruits and after going through an inspection they were sent off to go on their first patrol. Fennigan had to whisper some answers to Alistair during the inspection, as he was having a hard time keeping undercover. Once they were out out of the fort they immediately made their way back to Eamon’s castle.

Once they returned everyone was greatly relieved that they had managed to escape. Even Anora, whom Fennigan was livid with. Anora explained that Fennigan had ousted her to the person who worked most closely with her father. She would have just taken custody of her and returned her to her father. Then he would have had her locked up again more tightly, or possibly even killed! She did the only thing she could think of, to cause a fight so that she could slip away. Fennigan still wasn’t happy with her, but she conceded that given the circumstances it probably _was_ the only way Anora would have been able to escape capture.

Finally Eamon called the Landsmeet. Not only that, but an Archdemon had finally been spotted to the north. A Blight was truly upon them and they needed to do something quick. As nobles gathered in Denerim Fennigan went out to talk to them. For some she was able to tell them the fate of missing family members. A son found dead in Howe’s torture chamber, a brother found locked up in Howe’s prison and lyrium addled. Those nobles she was able to share these findings with were greatly upset and pledge their support to her during the Landsmeet.

When the Landsmeet finally began Fennigan was put face to face with Loghain for the first time. He tried to rally the people to his side, tell them how he helped free Fereldan from foreign occupation with King Maric and everything he had done since was to continue Fereldan’s independance. Fennigan pointed out he left his friend’s son to die on the battlefield, that he had conspired to have Eamon (Maric's borhter) poisoned, that he willingly allowed Fereldan elves to be sold into Tervinter slavery, that one of his top supporters had killed for more power and tortured Fereldan citizens, and that he had his own daughter (the queen!) locked away so she could not speak against him. Loghain tossed back that Fennigan herself had kidnapped his daughter and now held her captive somewhere only for Anora herself to walk into the room and tell the people that her father had indeed locked her away and Fennigan had been the one to rescue her.

Seeing that the nobles were already turning against him Loghain made one last ditch effort to win. He challenged Fennigan to a duel. If she won she could do as she pleased, but if he won she had to submit to his rule. Fennigan agreed to the terms and the two drew their weapons as the nobles backed away. They circled each other for a few turns before finally rushing in. It wasn’t even Fennigan’s most difficult battle to date. She bested him and when he knelt, panting at her feet, he asked what it was she planned to do now that she had won. Alistair insisted she kill him. Fennigan refused.

Alistair was livid. How could she let him live after everything he done? He had nearly destroyed the Wardens and caused a civil war! What of all his crimes they had worked so hard to convict him of? It was then an Orlesian Warden Fennigan had released from Howe’s dungeon stepped forward. He said they could recruit Loghain into the Wardens. Then he could pay for his crimes by being sentenced to fight darkspawn for the rest of his life. Fennigan agreed that it was a good idea. This only infuriated Alistair more. He said that being a Warden was supposed to be an honor, not a punishment. That if she wasn’t going to punish him then he was going to make his bid for the throne and when he became king _he_ would punish Loghain for his treason.

Fennigan told him that she was supporting Anora’s right to remain queen just like they had discussed! That he had said he never wanted the throne, that they had both agreed he’d make a lousy king! She told him to stop being so hysterical, probably not the best choice of words, but she was upset too. With Fennigan clearly not back down from her decision to spare Loghain Alistair announced he was leaving. He was leaving the Landsmeet. He was leaving the upcoming battle. He was leaving the Grey Wardens. Fennigan was hurt, that he was so angry at her decision that he would turn his back on the Blight. She told him that if he ever changed his mind that he would be welcomed back. He frowned and walked out.

She never saw him again.

She always thought he would come back. Even if not for the fight against the Archdemon that he would eventually come back. She always waited for him to, but he never did. In the years to come, as she became Warden-Commander of Fereldan, she would send people out to look for Alistair. They never found him. The closest she ever got was some gossip about an old drunk telling anyone that would listen about how he used to be a Grey Warden and a prince. She wasn’t sure if she preferred to believe it was just a crazy drunk and that she’d never know what happened to her dear friend, or that it _was_ her friend and that _this_ was the sorry fate his life had led to.

That night with the help of the Orlesian Warden Loghain went through the Joining Ritual and survived. He was now a Grey Warden. The Orlesian then made the discovery that there was one thing about the Wardens that Fennigan had yet to learn. He was sorry that he had to tell her this now, and Loghain as well, but the reason only Grey Wardens could kill an Archdemon was because when an Archdemon was slain its soul was transferred to the nearest darkspawn and eventually that darkspawn would turn into a new Archdemon. Wardens, however, because they had the taint inside them, would be the ones that soul went into. This soul could not survive inside a being that already had a soul, though, and thus the Grey Warden would perish. So an Archdemon would be destroyed for good, but at the cost of a Warden’s life.

It was customary for the eldest Grey Warden to be the one to slay the Archdemon, so as to not sacrifice a young life. As the eldest among them _he_ would be the one to do it, but if he should be unable to do the task it was up to Fennigan and Loghain to kill the creature. It was a sobering revelation. The two of them were sent off to their chambers to rest, as the armies would be marching to battle tomorrow and they needed all the rest they could get.

When Fennigan arrived to her room, however, she found Morrigan waiting for her. Morrigan explained that in her mother’s grimoire she had found a ritual that if they used it could spare the life of the Warden that slayed the Archdemon. She told Fennigan that it required her to become impregnated by someone who held the taint, someone who had only had the taint a short while, a Grey Warden, _Loghain_. Fennigan needed to convince Loghain to sleep with her that night and in doing so the ritual ensured she would become pregnant. Then, when the Archdemon was slain its soul would instead flow into the developing fetus. Since it would be so early in the development the child would not be killed, would become free of the taint, and in return would hold the soul of an old god. The only thing Morrigan asked for in return was that she would leave after the Archdemon was killed and no one was to come looking for her.

Fennigan was uneasy with the thought of a child possessing the soul of an old god, but she had come to trust Morrigan and if it prevented any of the frightfully small number of Wardens in Fereldan from dying then it seemed like a good idea to her. She agreed to talk to Loghain. When she went to his room she was able to use her silver tongue to get him to agree to the plan. He was disgusted by the thought of sleeping with an apostate mage, but the ritual went off without a hitch.

The next morning preparations were made for the battle. The Orlesian Warden would head out first and go straight for the Archdemon. Everyone else were to handle the darkspawn. Fennigan had to pick who of her companions she would take with her into and battle and who she would leave behind to makes sure the darkspawn didn’t break through the gates. She picked Zevran for his legendary skills at killing things, Morrigan so that she would have a better chance at being closer to the Archdemon and thus, Fennigan figured, a greater chance of absorbing its soul in her fetus, and finally she chose Sten because she figured he deserved to return to his people with a full report on exactly what a Blight was. She couldn’t bare to bring Leliana with her for fear of something happening to her. At last she had to choose who would lead those guarding the gates. She chose Loghain.

He was surprised by her choice. Wasn’t her whole reason for turning him into a Grey Warden so that he would die fighting the darkspawn? What better way to ensure that then by having him run into the thick of things? Fennigan told him that he had plenty of time to get killed by darkspawn, and that she had put him on this path not as an execution, but as a way to help make the world a better place in order to atone. Besides, he was a famous war hero and strategist, who better to lead the forces to protect the city of Denerim?

With that all her companions said their final farewells. This really felt like the end of everything. Then Fennigan and her small team charged into the fray.

They fought through the hordes of darkspawn, cutting paths through their ranks. They passed by human, Dalish, dwarf, and mage forces. The sea of darkspawn seemed unending. Then the Archdemon flew over head. Fennigan paused for only a moment to watch it, but as she did so she saw a figure dangling from one of its wings and then. . . plummet to the ground. That must have been the Orlesian Warden, surely, and now he was dead. With renewed energy Fennigan pressed on. She had to get to where the Archdemon had landed. She had to kill it.

When they finally reached it some of the mage forces joined them, including First Enchanter Irving himself! Together they all fought valiantly. The Archdemon was a terrible foe indeed and many died to its razor-sharp talons and its fiery breath, but ever so slowly they were wearing it down.

Then at last Fennigan took a running leap and plunged her weapons into the beast’s skull. It let out a horrible screech and then fell in a heap. A bright light gathered within its body and them seemed to explode. When their vision cleared everyone saw that the Archdemon moved no more. It was dead. The battle was far from over, however, as they were still many darkspawn left in the city, but without the Archdemon their attacks became less organized and the armies were able to sweep them up.

When at last the battle was over Fennigan was relieved to find none of her friends had died. The only person missing was Morrigan. She had been there when they fought the Archdemon, Fennigan had seen her for a moment after she had delivered the killing blow, but now she was nowhere to be seen.

Queen Anora named Fennigan the Hero of Fereldan for her efforts in battling the Blight and slaying the Archdemon. The Wardens of the other countries were very interested in learning how she had managed to end the Blight without perishing herself, but she and Loghain remained tight-lipped. The Orzammar Assembly granted her a place among the Warrior caste despite being born casteless and despite living on the surface. Fennigan learned of this news when her sister came to visit her, now the Orzammar Ambassador. Fennigan was overjoyed for her sister’s new job more than she was at her new caste.

It turned out Bhelen had been a good choice for king despite his deceitful and ruthless tactics. He increased trade between Orzammar and the surface and lessened caste restrictions. He also built a statue of Fennigan just like she wanted right outside the palace. The Assembly eventually even decided to name her a Paragon, meaning that she was now of the Noble caste and could bring any dwarf she wanted into her new noble house. Many dwarves were eager to become part of House Fennigan and Fennigan’s mother finally stopped drinking. Though she was still difficult and liked to rub it in all her old friends’ faces that she was a noblewoman now she and Fennigan were able to repair their relationship.

Brother Burkel had gained a number of followers, but this proved controversial. Many dwarves believed that it was dishonorable to the ancestors to worship the Maker. Many fights broke out over the issue and during a peaceful sit-in Brother Burkel had been killed. When the Chantry heard about this they grew angry and word was that the Divine was even considering and Exalted March on Orzammar.

The Assembly also became increasingly frustrated with Bhelen and all the changes he was making. Eventually they became so vocal that Bhelen abolished the Assembly all together, becoming the supreme ruler of Orzammar.

Leliana returned to her work with the Chantry. She had been asked to investigate their discovery of the Urn of Sacred Ashes and Fennigan joined her for a time. Fennigan even converted and become an Andrastian. She grew tired of Chantry business after a time, however, and she left to travel with Zevran. She promised to return to Leliana soon, but then she was made Warden-Commander of Fereldan and needed to help rebuild their numbers.

The land that Arl Howe once owned had been turned over to the Grey Wardens to use as a base of operations. Fennigan now found herself not only in charge of the Wardens that had come to Fereldan from the neighboring countries, but also an Arlessa that needed to look after the people living on this land. It was far from what she would have ever chosen for herself, but it was her duty and she was going to try her very best. However, when she arrived at the Keep she found that it was under attack by darkspawn and all the Grey Wardens who had gathered were either dead or captured.

She managed to clear out the darkspawn invaders as soldiers warned her that there were talking darkspawn about. Darkspawn shouldn’t be able to talk. She managed to pick up some allies along the way. The first was the mage Anders. He and his templar minders had only stopped in the Keep for a short rest while they journeyed to the Circle. He said the templars had died in the attack and Fennigan quickly recruited Anders to help her in the fight. The next person was a familiar face, Oghren. Apparently he had grown tired of surface life (and of his new relationship) and had come to the Keep to join the Grey Wardens. Fennigan was so happy to see one of her friends again, but later she would remember how she wasn’t really all that fond of Oghren.

When the darkspawn had finally been cleared out (and they even met a darkspawn who did indeed talk before killing it) Fennigan heard reports from the Keep’s soldiers about just how intelligent these darkspawn were. While it wasn’t unusual for some darkspawn to still roam the surface after a Blight it was unusual for them to be clever without an Archdemon to lead them. This was worrying, coupled with the talking, and needed investigation. Fennigan’s already tough job seemed nearly impossible, but it wasn’t the first time she had to face a battle with no Wardens.

Some templars arrived and demanded that Fennigan turn over Anders to them. He was an escaped mage and to add to that crime they were now accusing him of murdering his escorts. Fennigan refused to let them take him and the only way she could save him was to invoke the Right of Conscription. Anders didn’t want to become a Grey Warden, but he relented and said that it was better than being killed by a templar’s sword.

The soldier’s informed her that a thief had been captured before the attack began that required her attention. He had managed to take down four Grey Wardens before they were able to lock him up. When Fennigan went to see him he revealed himself to be Nathaniel Howe, the late Arl Howe’s son. He had been spending the last few years in the Free Marches and when he returned home he found his family name disgraced, his father dead at Fennigan’s hands, and everything the family had owned turned over to the Wardens. At first, he said, he had only wanted to sneak in and recover a few of his family’s possessions, but the more he thought about it the more he wanted revenge for his father’s murder.

Fennigan felt pity for the man. He had been out of the country, he had no idea the horrible things his father had done. All he knew was that while he was away his family had lost everything. She came up with an idea. Nathaniel would become a Grey Warden. He had already proved his remarkable fighting skills and this way he would be able to restore some honor back to his family’s name and she needed all the Wardens she could get.

Luckily the Keep’s seneschal, Varel, while not a Warden himself knew how to do the Joining Ritual and other Grey Warden secrets. With his help Fennigan was able to induct the new recruits into the Order. With Anders, Oghren, and Nathaniel by her side she began her investigation into the darkspawn attack. She also needed to attend to the duties of an Arlessa, however. She needed to oversee the repairs to the Keep, create more favorable trade, and solve the concerns of the people in the arling.

One of the problems they were facing was that all the caravans through the forest had been attacked. She needed to go out there and recover any of the goods she could and find a way to stop these attacks. When she got there she found a Dalish woman who accused them of working with the humans who kidnapped her sister and killed her clan. After fighting against her and doing some investigating Fennigan discovered that it was the darkspawn who had taken her sister, killed her clan, and then planted evidence to make it look like it had been the human traders. Fennigan grew more and more troubled by these strange darkspawn.

She revealed the truth to the Dalish woman, who refused to believe her at first, but then when they went into the silverite mines together they came across a very strange darkspawn and her sister! This darkspawn called himself the Architect and looked nothing like any darkspawn Fennigan had ever seen before. He spoke of some sort of plan and captured the group. Later the Dalish woman (named Velana) and Fennigan’s group were released by Velanna’s sister. She told them to escape, but that she was staying, she was working with the Architect. The Architect soon discovered of their escape, however, but instead of fighting them he simply expressed his regret and collapsed a tunnel he escaped through with Velanna’s sister.

Velanna was heartbroken and demanded Fennigan turn her into a Grey Warden so that that she could gain the power to sense darkspawn and track down her sister. Fennigan warned her that this was for life and there would be no turning back. Velanna agreed to pledge the rest of her life to the Grey Wardens in exchange for the chance to look for her sister. Knowing she still needed any Grey Warden she could get Fennigan agreed to put her through the Joining.

With the trade routes now clear the next stop was into the Deep Roads to find more clues about these new darkspawn. In the Deep Roads they came across Sigrun, a member of the Legion of the Dead. It was a dwarven Order similar to the Grey Wardens. They had no special abilities, but they dedicated their lives to fighting the darkspawn, being absolved of any crimes or other sins in the process for their sacrifice. Sigrun told them that she was the only member left of her squad after a darkspawn attack. The group headed back the way she had came to defeat the group of darkspawn and avenge her comrades. When it was done Fennigan suggested to Sigrun that she become a Grey Warden. She told her how she could use any help she get and Sigrun agreed that she was already doing all the duties of a Warden as a member of the Legion so it wouldn’t hurt to gain the extra benefits that Wardens possessed.

As they all worked together Fennigan learned more and more about her new companions. Anders reminded her a lot of Alistair. They were both scruffy blondes that shared the same sarcastic sense of humor. One day Anders asked Fennigan if anyone had ever left the Wardens. Obviously he was asking because he wanted to know if it was possible for him to leave once this was over, but Fennigan couldn’t help the sinking feeling in her chest and think of Alistair. Her friend who had disappeared on her just before the battle with the Archdemon. She became very quiet for a moment before she told Anders in a soft voice that you could leave, but that you would always be tainted. Then she turned and left before he could ask her any more questions, about the Wardens or her sudden shift in mood. He did mention at one point missing the Circle Tower cat and when Fennigan happened upon a kitten in the street she gifted it to him, much to his joy.

Nathaniel was surly, but he proved to be a very good man. He truly had not realized the depths his father had fallen and as he learned more about the atrocities he had committed while Nathaniel was gone he slowly let go of the hate he felt towards the Wardens and Fennigan specifically. It certainly helped when Fennigan discovered his grandfather’s old bow and gifted it to him. He admitted that his grandfather had been a Warden and that he hoped he made him proud by following in his footsteps.

Velanna reminded Fennigan a lot of Morrigan, another friend who had gone missing. They were both female mages with a penchant for destructive spells and were terrible at making friends. Where Morrigan had been clever, however, Velanna was angry. Fennigan didn’t really care for her and decided to keep a close eye on her so that she didn’t start attacking the humans at the keep out of spite or run off on her own to search for her sister.

Sigrun became a very good friend of Fennigan’s. Here was another female dwarf who had been born casteless and now dedicated her life to fighting darkspawn. Fennigan no longer felt like she had to put up with Oghren simply because he was the only other dwarf around! Here was someone who could understand her even better than Oghren ever could! It helped that Fennigan found her very attractive and fun to talk to as well (though her heart still belonged to Leliana [and Sigrun was straight]).

As they worked to solve all the problems they were facing it was reported to Fennigan that a Grey Warden had heard rumors about the intelligent darkspawn before the attack and been sent off to investigate. There had been no word from him in quite some time so it would be a very good idea to go looking for him. Meanwhile there was a conspiracy amongst some of the nobles to assassinate Fennigan. That matter would be looked into while she traveled to the Blackmarsh, the last known location of the missing Warden.

The Blackmarsh was said to be haunted and when they arrived it was easy to see why. The placed was extremely spooky and crawling with blighted wolves and werewolves. There was also an abandoned village crumbling into ruin protected by some sort of magical barrier. As Fennigan searched she eventually found the body of the missing Warden. When she did a group of darkspawn jumped them. The one calling himself the First said he had been sent by the Mother to lure Fennigan into a trap. He then produced an artifact that sent them all into the Fade.

When their vision cleared they saw that the First had been pulled into the Fade with them. He was extremely upset by this, realizing that the Mother had thought of him disposable and ran off into the Fade. Fennigan and her team then explored the Fade version of the Blackmarsh themselves and came across several groups of Desire Demons that seemed to be channeling the barriers they had seen in the real world. The group managed to kill them all and turn off the barriers.

Then they made their way to the village and found that it was full of people. Real people, not memories or spirits. They told the group that years ago they had all lived in the Blackmarsh under the rule of the Baroness, but she was cruel woman. She had turned to blood magic to keep herself young and beautiful. She had begun kidnapping their children and sacrificing them for her own vanity. When the people revolted against her she used her powers to send them all into the Fade, where they would remain trapped.

Among the villagers was a spirit of Justice. It had been drawn to this part of the Fade by the people’s desire for justice against the evil Baroness. He tried to rally the people against her, but after all this time she was still too powerful and many of the people had lost the will to fight her. With the arrival of Fennigan and her group, however, they would have enough manpower to finally turn the tides! They stormed the estate and found the Baroness had allied with the First. In exchange for him fighting off these invaders with her demons she would use her powers to return him to the real world.

A battle ensued and the First was defeated. The Baroness was outraged and wanted Fennigan and her group gone. So she decided to channel the life force of the First to send them all back to the real world and away from her domain in the Fade. As everyone woke back up they found that the First was now dead and the spirit of Justice had been cast out of the Fade along with them. Since he had no body of his own he now inhabited the body of the dead Warden. He was aghast at this turn of events. He had never wanted to leave the Fade and he was uncomfortable with using the body of this dead man.

The fight was not over, however. Back in the ruins of the village the Baroness made her appearance. Though now that she was out of the Fade she quickly lost her human visage and looked like exactly what she had become, a Pride Demon. The group fought her and killed her, finally releasing the souls all those she had trapped. Justice thanked them for their help, but now he did not know what to do. He had no way of returning back to the Fade. Fennigan suggested that he join them on their journey. After some thought he decided that fighting darkspawn was a suitable way to bring justice to the world and agreed to follow them. It was kind of creepy to be travelling with a walking corpse, but as Fennigan always said: They could use all the help they could get.

Justice occasionally had flashes of memory that belonged to the dead Warden. He recalled that he had a wife in Amaranthine and asked Fennigan for help in finding her so that she could know what became of her missing husband. She agreed, but when they found the woman she was understandably terrified at the sight her her husband’s decomposing body walking and talking with a voice that was not his own. After giving her some time they returned and Justice apologized that he was desecrating her husband’s body so. He promised her that he would avenge her husband’s murder, that he would kill the darkspawn. She admitted that it was a terrible situation for everyone involved, but agreed it was the best thing. All she asked was that when he was done that he return her husband’s body to her so that she could give him a proper funeral.

While in Amaranthine Fennigan ran across Wynne. She was utterly delighted to see her friend and mother figure again. The two were able to catch up and Wynne told her that now she was a court mage working for Queen Anora and was on an important job gathering other mages for a meeting. She even asked Fennigan to help her find one of these mages and Fennigan quickly agreed to help. When she had delivered the message to the elusive mage she was sad Wynne and her were much too busy to spend any more time together.

When she returned to the keep there was an assassination attempt on her life by one of the nobles. Fennigan quickly put her down and it was agreed that the noblewoman’s body would be disposed of and they would keep this matter all hush hush. They didn’t need it getting out that Fennigan had killed one of the nobles that had pledge loyalty to her. They had enough problems on their plate without trying to prove that there had been a conspiracy to kill Fennigan and quelling any unrest this death might cause.

Fennigan also checked on the repairs being done to the keep. A dwarf was in charge of the project and with Fennigan’s support (and money) he had been updating the keep’s walls and defenses to the highest dwarven standard! There was also a weapon and armor smith Fennigan had been donating strong materials to so that the keep's soldiers would have the best possible equipment. Fennigan also was able to bring the smith an ancient dragon bone, which he turned into a remarkable blade for her.

While they were working on all this a darkspawn messenger came to them. He claimed to work for the Architect as the Messenger and was sent to warn them that the Mother planned an attack on the keep and nearby city of Amaranthine. She was sending her army of darkspawn and everyone would be slaughtered. He told Fennigan that she must defend the keep and then come with him to meet the Architect. Fennigan still had no idea who this “Mother” was or what the Architect’s plans were, but she decided to heed the warning of the attack. She had already sent her soldiers to protect the farmers’ fields, the city itself was defenseless. She decided to believe in the repairs she had made and the equipment she had provided and leave the keep to defend itself while she went to help Amaranthine. To prove the darkspawn’s good faith she urged him to join her in protecting Amaranthine and afterwards she would join him to speak with the Architect. He was frustrated, but agreed to the deal.

So they sent off to protect the city. There darkspawn were already running through the streets in droves. Buildings were on fire and people were running for their lives. Fennigan and her team managed to cut through the darkspawn forces. After a long battle the city was finally cleared. The Messenger then lead her to the lair of the Architect.

There it was explained to her that the Architect had been the one giving the darkspawn intelligence. He had discovered a way to release the control of the old gods, the Archdemons, from the darkspawn. He himself had always been free from such influence, though he did not know why. He had used the method of awakening he had discovered on one of the broodmothers, hoping she would breed new darkspawn that could think for themselves, but the loss of her connection to the taint drove her mad. She was the Mother and the conflict between him and her sparked a civil war between the darkspawn he had already awakened.

Those that wanted other darkspawn to be freed and allowed to have their own personalities and thoughts stayed on his side, while those who missed the “song” of the Archdemons sided with the Mother. They then commanded forces of unawakened darkspawn and caused all this fighting.

The Architect also explained that the attack on the Vigil’s Keep before Fennigan’s arrival had been an unfortunate misunderstand. For the thing was, the method he had found to awaken the darkspawn was similar in nature to the Joining Ritual Wardens used. Wardens needed darkspawn blood so that they could then sense the taint. He needed Warden blood so that the darkspawn would be free to have the taint, but think for themselves. He had sent an envoy to the keep to ask for their help, but did not realize that a swarm of approaching darkspawn would have been seen as an attack by the Wardens.

So now the Architect asked Fennigan to help him. Destroy the Mother and those who defended her, put her out of her misery. Then allow him to have some Warden blood and leave him to work in peace. Those with Fennigan expressed their dissatisfaction with the idea of allowing this darkspawn to not only live, but create more intelligent darkspawn. Fennigan listened to their concerns, but ultimate decided to agree with the Architect’s wishes.

In her mind if the darkspawn were allowed to be their own people, instead of mindless killing machines then when the next Blight occurred it wouldn’t be nearly as bad. Some darkspawn would be able to ignore the Archdemon’s call. If the Architect continued his work then the darkspawn would be people instead of monsters. Things that could be reasoned with and even bargained with if they did decide to attack others.

With her promise secured the Architect sent her in the direction of where he had guessed the Mother’s lair to be. It was full of darkspawn, as was to be expected, but Fennigan and her team managed to fight their way through until they reached the Mother. The Mother’s madness was quite evident and killing her would be a mercy to both her and everyone else. They were able to defeat her and then return to the keep.

The battle against the attack had been hard, but all the repairs and equipment Fennigan had invested in proved to be worth it. The keep still stood and many of the soldiers survived. The Messenger was allowed to gather the Warden blood for the Architect, much to the wariness of those present, but afterwards the darkspawn returned underground. Velanna had disappeared during the attack. Fennigan was disappointed, but figured she had run off in search of her sister, wherever she and the Architect had gone.

Fennigan’s extreme charity had inspired a man to set up his own charity to help orphans of the Blight. The smugglers she had stopped helped to lower the crime rate in Amaranthine. Over the years things went back to normal. The blade made of ancient dragon bone was stolen and it became a legendary weapon as it continued to change hands, some saying it became more powerful with each new owner. Justice travelled around killing off any of the ramaining darkspawn on the surface. Then one day, out of the blue he showed up on the porch of his body’s wife. He smile, and the collapsed. He was gone and the woman was able to finally put her husband to rest. The Warden forces were finally built back up and Fennigan was able to step down as Warden-Commander. She had never wanted to position to begin with and she was tired of being in charge of the Wardens and being an arlessa. Both titles were handed off to someone else and she was finally able to rejoin her love, Leilanna before she disappeared. Rumor had it that the Hero of Fereldan was looking for a cure to the taint.


End file.
